How to cure insomnia?

[raw]

50+ yrs old woman has a schizophrenic daughter and schizophrenic mom. Below I m putting her case:
"
I quit sleeping three years ago when dg had bad psychotic break and extremely suicidal for over a year. Then she spent a year in residential, a year in outpatient. Doing well on clozapine now. But me not so well. Forgotten how to sleep. Any advice over the counter doesn't work. Can't take ambien. Lack of sleep makes my depression worse.

My mom and daughter have schizophrenia. Both doing well now. Daughter was extremely suicidal. I started sleeping in floor in her room too scared to leave her alone. I think that's when my body forgot how to sleep. I nap at night"

This woman is looking for her solution of insomnia. Thanks.

[eveheart]

This woman tells more of the story of her mother and daughter than she tells of herself. I think that is a clue to her solution: start acknowledging and healing her body and her thoughts. If she is napping at night and waking at intervals, perhaps there is too much on her mind. When that happens to me because of things on my mind, I have learned to welcome the waking and use it for a quiet meditation or listening to my thoughts. Another suggestion is to get up and do something like read, sew, other hobby. Worry about waking is counterproductive, and using sleep aids doesn't let the thoughts heal.

Of course the solution will include eating right and getting fresh air and sunshine, maybe talking to a counselor or taking supplements. But most important is that caretakers must learn how to take care of themselves.

[cherimoya_kid]

I'd say she is, on some level, still afraid that her daughter will commit suicide. 

[Inger]

I would say;
Avoiding fake lights, very strict. Getting as much sun / daylight at the daytime as possible.
Eating a diet very heavy in seafood.  No coffee. No alcohol, at least not in the evenings. No food 4 hour before going to sleep. Look into the sun / sky every morning for min. 1 minute.

Fake light destroys sleep. To be in front of the TV / computer at night.. very bad idea.

[Polyvore]

Good general advice Inger, though this special case raw presented would probably not be cured by that. She has mental problems and thus it is a mental issue. I know a lot of my friends and family who need to take your advice though, Inger!

[wodgina]

Cruel world.

Could find a hobby like gardening.

[raw]

Thank u all my friends in raw paleo forum. Here, I feel safe, secure and peace of my mind to be around u all.

Recently I m digging some links to meet people/parents who are having a hard time with their love one who has schizophrenia. So I get bunch of facebook's groups and publishing some common sense theories about the care or healthy living of those schizophrenics' families. But doing that I've been highly criticized by them. One of the groups, even kicked me out, cause I was telling them alternative treatmentss... etc. So outside of raw paleo forum, I realized that the environment is pretty dangerous. All these publicities are for to educate people and to grow more awarness about the mental illness and to meet some families that we could get support from each others. But I was totally wrong. Another reason is (which I haven't even told them yet, and probably never even tell them in the future) to get one or two patients from here to India, for a new mental orthomolecular /diet clinic in India. I'm trying to raise some money for that. If I could ever open up a clinic for mental patient, that would be a distinctive place.

[raw]

I want to talk about vit C therapy and insomnia. My 26 yrs old schizophrenic brother can't have normal sleep for the past 12 yrs. Only when he takes psychiatric drugs, then he feels some type  of sleep. On orthomolecular or vitamin therapy, if we give him at night 2000mg niacin, 50mg zinc, 500mg magnesium and 2000mg of vit C, he might sleep. So once we put him on same prescription and added amla berry's fresh juice, he slept very deep for the 1st time in very long time. This way we give him everyday the amla bery's fresh squeeze juice and at night he slept and after that he almost healed.

One small amla berry contains 500mg of vit C. My brother is a junkholic, so he eats junk and this is very significant that he could fall a sleep and even deep sleep.

Please, still share all different ideas of getting rid of insomnia. Thank u.

[cherimoya_kid]

Fasting can be a very good way to induce sleep.

Also, a low-carb diet, while reducing the amount of sleep, increases the quality of sleep, for most people.

[goodsamaritan]

Try inclined bed therapy

[Alive]

I find focusing on the feelings from my skin all over my body, by scanning my attention over the surface of my body, is a great way to calm my mind and fall asleep.

Raw paleo and inclined bed are helpful for good sleep, and keeping active during the day.

Sometimes I put lavender sleep balm on my top lip as it is supposed be calming.

Sometimes if I have a bad headache I take paracetamol with codeine before going to bed and that helps to get to sleep.

I have heard that a rocking bed is very good at inducing sleep - I want to hang a double bed from the ceiling in our shed and try this.

Smoking marijuana tends to make people sleepy, though with several potentially negative side effects.

[raw]

All of these posts are extremely important and every tips are contributing a better quality of sleep and improving the health in general. Raw paleo diet , increase the sleeping condition 100% , no doubt. But in this case, I put a lady who is from main stream population and she is on facebook where my posts are highly criticized . I still asked her that if she really want a solution for her sleeping condition, then to contact me privately. So far she didn't. If I had known bunch of drugs that good for sleeping, in facebook, then they might listen to me. Anyway one of the persons came out with  the idea of sleeping clinic. All of them r voting for that. What is sleeping clinic? The people on traditional diet can improve their sleeping condition on inclined bed therapy? Please, keep putting informations. It is interesting that how is a simple sleeping condition can controll entire body to maintain an optimal health. Thanks

[goodsamaritan]

Sleep clinics, they might be looking at sleep apnea possibilities.  Have her see a biological dentist who knows about the sleep apnea connection.

[Alive]

When I went to a sleep clinic it was just an expensive doctor telling me the standard list of 'good sleep habits' you can find on the internet, and charging heaps for it!

[raw]

the person who came out the answer about sleep clinic as below:

"You need to go to a sleep clinic and have your biorhythms reset "

[svrn]

one word solution that works for almost everyone who tries it...cannabis. Unless your afraid of a little smoke, id rather smoke it than eat it cooked though since smoking makes me feel fine but cooked foods make me feel like crap. I wouldn't recommend the cannabis to your schizophrenic insomniac family though since cannabis can exacerbate the symptoms.

i personally dont think smoking organic pot is bad for you but im sure others will disagree. Even with tobacco, i saw on the wai website that the amount of heat generated toxins absorbed through the cigarette smoke is hundreds of times less than that absorbed by the stomach from cooked foods. The problem with smoking things is when its sprayed and mixed with chemicals not from smoking itself from my personal experience.

[svrn]

i also believe you are in new york which has very lax pot laws, as a smoker the worst that can happen to you if you dont smoke in public is an 80 dollar ticket, less than a speeding ticket.

[van]

fat in general, and one or two egg yolks before retiring.  I like them now using GS's method of mixing with lemon or lime juice.   Works everytime.

[wodgina]

The best cure for insomnia is to reduce your hours of sleep and early wake therapy.

For example cut your hours down to 3.5 to 4 hours a night. Get up at 2am in the morning.

You will find that you will sleep solid for those 4 hours after a while.

Early wake therapy is really good for lots of things including depression and serious procrastination. Get up at 2am and start doing the dishes you will be amazed out what you can get done in those early morning hours.

[wodgina]

one word solution that works for almost everyone who tries it...cannabis. Unless your afraid of a little smoke, id rather smoke it than eat it cooked though since smoking makes me feel fine but cooked foods make me feel like crap. I wouldn't recommend the cannabis to your schizophrenic insomniac family though since cannabis can exacerbate the symptoms.

i personally dont think smoking organic pot is bad for you but im sure others will disagree. Even with tobacco, i saw on the wai website that the amount of heat generated toxins absorbed through the cigarette smoke is hundreds of times less than that absorbed by the stomach from cooked foods. The problem with smoking things is when its sprayed and mixed with chemicals not from smoking itself from my personal experience.

Or people who are easily anxious. Pot opened a pandora's box of anxiety attacks for me and changed my life forever. I don't think its worth the risk.

[svrn]

as far as anxiety it really depends on the strain. Pot is a very diverse plant and just like a chihuahua is extremely different from a husky, one strain of pot can make you anxious and full of energy while another strain can make you completely relaxed and sleepy.

[Alive]

I agree with Wodgina - and in addition to anxiety, if you have compulsive eating tenancies the pot smoking can cause you to drop your food quality standards and overeat junk food, setting up a vicious downwards cycle into poor health, and more insomnia, smoking, and munching. Lack of sleep has been scientifically shown to contribute to a desire to smoke pot and overeat.

I think having the best soil / high meat sourced gut bacteria is probably the most important contributor to a good nights sleep.

[Iguana]

Sorry, I didn't read the whole thread, but with 100%  raw paleo nutrition, as practiced in instincto, insomnia is usually almost completely over. And if I still nervous or upset for some reason and exceptionally cannot fall asleep, I get up, suck a few cassia fistula disks and... go back to sleep!

[svrn]

I agree with Wodgina - and in addition to anxiety, if you have compulsive eating tenancies the pot smoking can cause you to drop your food quality standards and overeat junk food, setting up a vicious downwards cycle into poor health, and more insomnia, smoking, and munching. Lack of sleep has been scientifically shown to contribute to a desire to smoke pot and overeat.

I think having the best soil / high meat sourced gut bacteria is probably the most important contributor to a good nights sleep.

i smoke all day every day and have none of the problems you describe. I have no desire to overeat raw foods ever no matter how stoned I am, and i never desire any junk food. I havent eaten anything heated in the year since iv started raw.

[Alive]

@troll - this really highlights how much of a drugs effect is dependant on the subject rather than the drug itself! Also in agreement with you many times smoking herb was an amazing way for me to just doze off and fall asleep. So it could be really useful for some insomniacs, especially if they are not going on RPD, or to use during transition. From my personal experience some of us who do not have your mental constitution would need someone else to control the dose so they didn't just waste their life and money puffing and dreaming up shit! The ideal for sleep would be a puff or two a couple of hours before bedtime. And as you say they would need to experiment with the variety and amount of ageing to find the best option (ageing effects the active ingredients).

I have just eaten 1 month ground ripened high fish, so I'm feeling pretty high myself right now